EXETER — The Spaulding High School ice hockey team needed a finish like its start in the Division II semifinals at The Rinks at Exeter Wednesday night.

Nothing doing for the No. 2 Red Raiders, who lost to No. 3 and defending champion Bedford, 5-4, in a game they led 2-0 and 3-2.

The Bulldogs (15-3-2) outscored Spaulding 5-1 during one torrid stretch in the second and third periods to go up 5-3, and then weathered a late-period Red Raiders assault that produced one goal, but not the equalizer.

“That was big hill to climb,” said Spaulding coach Paul George of the 5-3 deficit. “We did stay positive and gave ourselves an opportunity to win it at the end. That's all we wanted to do was to put ourselves in position to have a shot.”

The final two minutes supplied plenty of edge-of-the seat hockey as the Bulldogs suddenly found themselves a man down with 2:14 to play when Jeff Campbell was whistled for interference,

Spaulding applied the pressure and tempers boiled over with 90 seconds to go when an altercation broke out near the boards by the right circle. When order was restored nearly 10 minutes later, three players from each team were given 10-minute penalties: Bedford's Mike Dee, Ben Philbrick and Brian Collins and Spaulding's Drew Pepin, Zach Poisson and Derek Scott.

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Whaley/Democrat photo
Spaulding’s Zach Poisson, left, has his hands full during a scuffle with Bedford’s Brian Collins, Ben Philbrick and Mike Dee during the Red Raiders’ 5-4 loss in the D-II semifinals Wednesday in Exeter.

“We lost on that little scuffle,” said Bedford coach Marty Myers. “It's an emotional game. Both teams played with emotion. We got the short end and didn't gain any advantage with that scuffle.”

Although there were punches thrown on both sides, none of the Bedford players were disqualified for the championship, according to Myers.

Spaulding was still on the power play, finally striking gold when Alex Turgeon knocked in Brian Chick's rebound with 38.7 seconds to play to make it a one-goal game.

“It definitely jumped up the team a little bit, we got one,” Pepin said of the scuffle. “(The equalizer) wouldn't come. We didn't have the firepower or the time. It just wasn't meant to be.”

Bedford earned another penalty with 20 seconds to play when Chris Viola hooked Brent Phillips. The Bulldogs cleared the puck out of the zone on the face off, but Spaulding made one last charge and got a good scoring opportunity on Brendan Colson's shot from the top of the slot that was knocked wide by Bedford goalie Stevan Tempesta (29 saves) as time ran out.

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Whaley/Democrat photo
The long faces of Spaulding’s Adam Carignan, left, and Zach Poisson tell the story of the Red Raiders’ 5-4 loss to Bedford in the D-II semifinals Wednesday in Exeter.

Bedford will play No. 1 Merrimack (a 5-2 winner over No. 4 Bow) in Saturday's final at the Verizon Wireless Arena at 2:30 p.m.

“At that point we were just trying to get another shot,” George said. “We were hoping that shot had eyes. We got the opportunity and scored. They took another penalty, but it was too little, too late.”

Spaulding, which came from behind to beat Bedford last month, 4-3, jumped out to a 2-0 lead 3:48 into the game on goals by Zander Allen and Poisson.

In both cases, the Red Raiders pressured the Bulldogs fiercely in their zone and both goals came as a result of rebound opportunities.

Bedford answered back in the second period with two goals to knot the score at 2-all.

“When it was 2-0 going into the second period, the next goal was huge,” Myers said. “Having them go up 3-0 on us probably would have changed the game; at least the tempo of the game. But we got the next couple and made a game out of it.”

Collins scored the first of his two goals when he cleaned up a rebound on Philbrick's shot at 2:03. The equalizer came on the power play when Dee's slapper from the right point beat Scott (26 saves).

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Whaley/Democrat photo
Spaulding's Kyle Carignan, right, battles for control of the puck with Bedford's Kurt Mitchell during the D-II semis Wednesday in Exeter.

“They came out hard,” George said. “That's a state championship team from last year. They're a big, strong, physical team with a lot of confidence.”

Spaulding responded 39 seconds later when Phillips scored in front from Poisson and Colson.

Bedford tied it up at 13:47 on Collins' second goal with a shot from mid slot that deflected off Scott and in.

“We had that 2-0 lead after the first and we kind of let up a little bit,” Pepin said. “Nothing seemed to be going for us after that.”

The Bulldogs took the lead for good with two goals in the first 3:41 of the third period, almost a mirror of what the Red Raiders did to them in the first.

Philbrick stuck home the rebound off Cullen Willey's slap shot from the left point at 1;16, and Kurt Mitchell followed at 3:41 with a goal during a flurry in front from O'Hara.

Phillips led the Red Raiders with a goal and two assists, while Poisson (goal, assist) and Colson (2 assists) each had two points.